Bill Bryson has written about his experiments in trekking, and his attempts to walk in a typical American city, which, if you go by his experience, is almost impossible. Nobody in the USA, least of all the developers and Town Planners, can think of any reason why people would walk in a city when there are cars available. There are hardly any footpaths, and the ones that are there sometimes in market places, end up abruptly at some point without any warning, and you are left stranded, wondering whether you can walk on the road, which is really a very dangerous thing to do, as no motorists expect any pedestrians on the streets, and would be almost as fast as on a highway.
The exceptions are there, of course. The most populous cities in US, like New York and San Francisco for example, have a large network of public transport and look like any populous city in India, with crowded streets with roadside amenities and parks and pedestrians rule in the city.
But this picture changes drastically once you go to any tier 2 or tier 3 city. Public transport is almost non-existent once you leave the large metropolitan cities, and walking anywhere is not at all a good option.
That is the reason USA is mostly a nation of car-owners (there are about 800 cars per 1000 persons in USA as against 30 per 1000 in India) and people regularly take their cars to a stadium or some such place if they want to walk at all as an exercise, park their cars, and walk on the grounds. It is not at all practical to walk for daily work, or to visit a grocery shop, unless you live in the central part of the city.
Before my son Pranav came to USA, and started working in Jacksonville FL, I was not even aware that it existed. Though geographically the largest city in the USA, Jacksonville is almost unheard of in India. There is no reason for it to be famous the world over anyway. No US Presidents have ever come from Jacksonville, nor it has any architectural or natural wonders or for that matter not even any negative publicity. Florida as a state is holiday destination because of its beaches, but the most famous is Miami, not Jacksonville. The only time Florida came in news when the automatic counting of votes became an issue in the famous Bush vs Gore elections, but this is not a matter of interest to people outside US.
When I visited Jacksonville in 2009, I found that the this was a city of followers in matters of architectural style, not leaders. The downtown buildings tried a faithful copy of buildings from New York, while the residential architecture in the suburbs was a distinct copy of typical British houses of Victorian era. Later I even found a treatise on Heritage of Jacksonville in the local library, but it was mostly about people. This was my first visit to USA and frankly I did not know what to expect. Having lived in India all my life, I had some idea about the most famous cities of USA like New York and San Francisco but was not aware of the day-to-day life in any of these cites.
When I visited Jacksonville in 2009, I found that the this was a city of followers in matters of architectural style, not leaders. The downtown buildings tried a faithful copy of buildings from New York, while the residential architecture in the suburbs was a distinct copy of typical British houses of Victorian era. Later I even found a treatise on Heritage of Jacksonville in the local library, but it was mostly about people. This was my first visit to USA and frankly I did not know what to expect. Having lived in India all my life, I had some idea about the most famous cities of USA like New York and San Francisco but was not aware of the day-to-day life in any of these cites.
